Nostalgia
is complicated. Often times one is
nostalgic for moments that are romanticized without any reference to the
reality of that which is missed; however, nostalgia is based on perception and
that perception becomes reality. In
fact, the etymology of the word nostalgia is itself a nostalgic reminiscence
for classical language. The word came in
to being during the Renaissance and in Erin Sullivan’s article “Nostalgia” she
writes,
Searching in 1688 for the perfect
word to express the strange emotional and mental symptoms seen in Swiss mercenaries fighting far from home, medical student
Johannes Hofer decided to make up his own. Looking back to ancient Greece, the
birthplace of western European medicine, Hofer settled on the term nostalgia, a
combination of the words nosos (return to the native land) and algos (suffering or
grief). Nostalgia was literally the pain that came from the intense but
unfulfilled desire to go home, and for the next 200 years it remained a
constant category in medical writings. (Sullivan N.P.)
Like
the Swiss mercenaries who fought anciently in foreign fields longing for their
faraway homeland, modern society is often nostalgic for picturesque moments of
historical events. This is manifested in
fashion, language, and literature.
Fashion is perhaps one of the
clearest evidences of social nostalgia; as styles change they tend to reflect
the styles and cuts of previous eras.
Women’s hats that were stylish in the thirties found themselves in a
“renaissance” in the 1960s and once again in to vogue in 2012. Similarly men’s suits evolved from military
uniforms over the course of the last three hundred years—however, recently
jackets reminiscent of military uniforms have re-entered high fashion. United States President, Richard Nixon,
impressed by European army uniforms, once tried to impose the fashion on the
Presidential Guard[1]. Interesting to note, Americans of the 1960s
recognized the nostalgia for imperial pomp and pageantry present in the
proposed uniforms, and that because of the American view towards imperialism,
they became immediately unpopular.
More subtle than fashion is
literature and yet it is clear that literature can be nostalgic. Romantic writers like Wordsworth and
Coleridge sought to echo medieval styles and their poetry is full of allusions
to a glorified past that is far removed from their own industrialized
Britain. The Romantic period gave birth
to the idea of nationalism, which sought to unify empires with common legends,
beliefs, and characters consistent with a perceived cultural history. The power of nationalism is often listed as a
cause for the Great War. Since nostalgia
is a key part of both romanticism and nationalism, the power implicit in
nostalgic literature is therefore unsurprising.
After World War II and the subsequent collapse of the British
Empire in the 1960s, nationalism became a dirty word in Britain and was often
associated with imperialism. Torn
between disassociating herself from her former heroes and colonial legacy and
embracing the heroes of a more powerful past, the United Kingdom and the
Commonwealth Realms struggled during the latter half of the 20th
century, and even into the 21st century, to find national
identities. Different political factions
in various former imperial dominions first removed references to the mother
country and then during the 1980s and continuing today have slowly re-embraced
appendages like “Royal” in their national institutions. Steven Harper, the current Prime Minister of
Canada, re-introduced “Royal” into the Army, the Navy, and other branches of
Canadian Government and in the Canadian diplomatic corps; Canadian Embassies
were even instructed to display a picture of Queen Elizabeth II in a prominent
location. As of 2012, the British and
Canadian Governments announced that they would share some embassies in order to
cut costs prompting different reactions from different factions. Some in the United Kingdom and in Canada are
charmed by the nostalgic idea of a closer relationship with the monarchy and
their historical ties; while others bemoan the loss of national identity into a
broader sense of self espoused by two sovereign states working together in the
diplomatic field[2] (the Economist N.P.).
However, the most compelling manifestation of nostalgic power
in our modern society is expressed, not through legal codes or international
treaties, but through the most defining books of the last decade—the Harry Potter Series. Harry Potter is obviously reminiscent of
Britain during the Interwar Years and World War II. Allusions are made to Winston Churchill,
Adolf Hitler, Kaiser Wilhelm II, the nuclear bomb, Nancy Astor, and other
prominent figures of the period.
Hogwarts itself is an obvious characterization of the classic British
public school and Harry Potter is himself the quintessential amateur hero of
British tradition (Rowling Secrets
250). While J. K. Rowling herself is not
a product of the interwar or war years, it is clear that she is a product of a
culture deeply nostalgic for, in the words of eminent statesman, Winston
Churchill, “Britain’s finest hour.” (Manchester Defender 147-9) That she is
not alone in that nostalgia is manifest by the success of her opus magnum.
Nostalgia, first and foremost
involves noticing a lack of something familiar.
The Swiss mercenaries, for whom the term was coined, experienced a lack
of their foods, their language, and other aspects of Swiss culture. Nostalgia involves missing something lost in
the mists of time that is often recalled through a sudden reminiscence. Again quoting from the article by Erin
Sullivan,
By the end of the 19th century, nostalgia had lost
credibility as a disease category. In 1899, The Lancet published an opinion piece defending the Royal College of Physicians'
decision to exclude it from its “Nomenclature of Diseases”, arguing that it was
“a purely selfish disorder” and unworthy of medical classification. Today,
nostalgia has shed its original medical trappings, moving instead into the
world of the imagination and the arts, which attempt to evoke through memory,
music, and poetry the buried pain of all those longing for an unrecoverable
past.
(Sullivan N.P.)
Important for
this argument is not that nostalgia lost its medical status but that it gained
an association with the liberal arts.
Nostalgia is inherent to poetry, music, and other art forms because art
seeks to express through lyric, word, or image the beauty of the currently
unattainable.
However, some may argue that
nostalgia is not as powerful as it is made out to be and that there are many
other factors that contribute to modern society. Why should nostalgia be the key to interpret Harry Potter? According to R. Trimm, in his article the
Incredible Shrinking Empire,
Englishness has been particularly blessed among
studies of national identity. The fascination with national identity in the
decades after Imagined Communities and
the re-flowering of nationalism after 1989 has produced a welter of studies
detailing manifestations of the Sceptered Isle's sometimes peculiar case. The
genealogy of this concern with Englishness is usually thought to originate
around the Second World War, threats of battle sparking an almost retrospective
retrieval of what would be lost by figures such as J.B. Priestley, George
Orwell, and, a bit later, Nikolaus Pevsner. This after-the-fact quality of
national discovery has proved to
be a boon for postcolonial critics such as Simon Gikandi and Ian Baucom.
Belatedness in such accounts betrays a failure of organic belonging, for a
national sense of self is found only after collision with alterity, the
"colonial crucible" being perhaps the most forceful. Post-imperial
Britain and postcolonial nations then both suffer from a sense of dislocation,
a national identity fractured by failure of self-coherence. (Trimm N.P.)
Harry Potter as
a work of fiction is an amusing story, as a work of literature it is an attempt
to redefine, in a modern setting “Englishness” by using the Interwar and World
War II saga to bring the traditional definition to a modern audience (West
N.P.). Britain is still struggling to
redefine itself and preserve their historic culture in an ever changing
society. While nostalgia is not the only
driving force of modern British public, modern society is becoming increasingly
nostalgic.
One cannot understand World War II
without understanding the Great War and the Edwardian world. First and foremost the modern image of
America as a great hegemonic power is but an echo of the 19th
century perspective on the British Empire.
The Victorian Period saw the rise of the British Empire from a local
European Power to the pre-eminent global power.
In the Edwardian Era, it was said that “the sun never set on the British
Empire.” Britain controlled one fourth
of all the land on earth and her culture was emulated in every industrialized
capital in the world. Every eye watched
London; it was the capital of finance, of fashion, and of policy (Manchester Visions 44-45).
The end of the Great War marked the
end of empire for many of Europe’s powerhouses, and yet, in the popular view,
it only testified to the greatness of the British. In 1919 the mighty German Empire, proponent
of eugenics in nationalistic passion lay shattered. The Austrian Empire erupted into tiny small
states based on liberal ideas of nationalism and self-determination. After forty years of German militarism, Europe
expected to see peace. France,
particularly worried about German Aggression, sought to prevent another war by
decimating German industry, military, and economy through the Treaty of
Versailles (Manchester Visions 669. While modern historians tend to blame the
Treaty of Versailles for World War II, French worries regarding a strong
Germany seem slightly vindicated, given that France was destroyed by Germany in
1870, 1914-1919 and again in 1940.
Economically, Europe’s recovery from
the financial burden of the Great War seemed possible, until the Stock Market
Crash of 1929. Overnight, Europe was
wiped out and the issue was compounded by the vast debt owed to America. The British Empire was spent and the attitude
in Great Britain was that the Empire cost too much to maintain[3] (Manchester
Alone 42-5). India clamored for independence and the
Dominions claimed parity with the United Kingdom. Rather than go to war, Westminster signed
treaties that eventually dismembered the British Empire. Financially, London could not afford to
maintain her Empire without the support of willing colonial peoples. The debt issue was further impeded by
American insistence that war debts be paid, despite their objections to Britain
and France forcing Germany to pay reparations for war.
The
horrors of modern war so affected the populations of both Britain and France
that they became desperate to avoid war at any cost (Manchester Visions 661-668). Policies advocating disarmament became
reality and partly as an effort to cut costs, partly as an effort to avoid war,
military spending was cut, armies were disbanded, and the Empire was further
weakened.
The Interwar Years[4]
were marked by both economic success and complete destruction of the financial
system. Europe, still recovering from
the devastation of the Great War, was plunged into complete chaos by the crash
of the American Stock exchange in 1929.
The rise of progressive liberalism in Great Britain resulted in the
formation of the Labour Party which decimated the ranks of the Party of
Gladstone—the Liberal Party. It was very
much a period of upheaval and yet, in England, it was upheaval masked and
ignored by the elites. The Treaty of
Westminster already spelled out the certain demise of the British Empire and
yet Churchill famously declared much later that he would not oversee the
dismemberment of the British Empire.
Germany did not seem to experience, at
least to the same extent, the effects of war or depression. The economy under the Weimar Republic, the
government which replaced the German Empire, stagnated until a “terrible but
great” (Rowling Sorcerer’s 23) man
took control of the country and revolutionized the economy: Adolf Hitler. At first, Hitler was universally admired for
his seemingly shrewd, now understood as fraudulent, economic development
(Manchester Alone 50-1). As German economic power boomed, Germany
began to push away from the Treaty of Versailles. Hitler, and the German people, found the
terms of the treaty humiliating and impeding to their development as a state—en
plus, the treaty robbed them of sovereign rights; like the ability to operate
an air force.
Though Churchill is the most famous
and dominant impression of the Interwar Years he is a poor example of the
period. Churchill’s character predates
the Interwar Years and he is, essentially, the last of the Victorians. A much better representation of the period is
Stanley Baldwin; the Prime Minister for most of the Interwar Years. Baldwin, rather than oppose German refusal to
cooperate with their treaty obligations, initiated a policy of appeasement that
emboldened Hitler and made the war Baldwin so hoped to avoid, inevitable.
Throughout the gathering storm,
Churchill remained a consistent critic of government policies. He was in the minority and describes this
period as his “wilderness” (Manchester Visions
857). Churchill’s repeated opposition to
Baldwin cost him popularity, government office, and in the end redeemed him and
made him Britain’s hero during the war.
During the Interwar Period, however, he was one of the few who realized
that Hitler’s Germany was not an example to be emulated but rather a tiger to
be contained. Had Churchill’s
suggestions been taken, when they were recommended, the cataclysm of World War
II might have been avoided; but alas, Churchill was dismissed as an eccentric
old fool. (The Gathering Storm)
The
parallels between the Harry Potter
characters and the actual historical figures are astoundingly obvious to anyone
who is familiar with the British political climate during the Interwar Years
and World War II. The characterizations
are witty and accurate in their portrayal of the elites of the day.
One
of the most compelling characterizations is that of Albus Dumbledore. Professor Dumbledore is clearly Winston
Churchill. He is brilliant but odd,
witty, and a good orator. He is popular
with the masses but lampooned by the elites.
The newspapers go against him to promote government policy. His family life is complicated and his father
was implicated in a scandal that threatened to tarnish the family reputation
(Rowling Deathly 286-295). The “he” described above could easily
implicate either Sir Winston Churchill or Albus Dumbledore and both came to be
the leaders that embodied the anti-fascist movement.
Dumbledore’s
most loyal supporter and colleague is perhaps the rarely mentioned yet stalwart
Minerva McGonagall; thus it is no surprise that she corresponds well with Clementine
Churchill. Clementine Churchill held
different political beliefs than her husband.
Clementine was much more grounded than her erstwhile husband and, yet,
she was his biggest supporter and always remained constant (The Gathering Storm). Minerva McGonagall serves roughly the same
function as Clementine Churchill—she is the quiet and loyal supporter in the
background; strong and confident.
Dumbledore’s
rival, in the eyes of the political elite in the Wizarding World, is Cornelius
Fudge. Fudge is the Prime Minister and
harbors a belief in “the proper wizarding pride” (Rowling Phoenix 71) yet he doesn’t go as far as the Death Eaters. When warned that Voldemort is back, Fudge
refuses to believe that Voldemort has returned, he refuses to see the signs of
rearmament by the Death Eaters, and his lack of action ultimately leads to war
(Rowling Goblet 710). Fudge is Stanley
Baldwin, the British Prime Minister who watched as Hitler led Germany to war;
and did nothing. In a Times article, Smyth writes this about
Baldwin, “Hitler's remilitarisation of the
Rhineland in March 1936 was the cause of the great crisis of the year. Baldwin,
then in his third spell as Prime Minister, argued for restraint, ignoring the
calls from those who said that the Nazis must be confronted…” (Smyth N.P.) Up until
Churchill started to scrutinize government policy regarding the Nazi threat,
Baldwin and Churchill enjoyed an amicable relationship, however, once Churchill
took up the call to re-arm, Baldwin used every possible measure to silence and
sideline Churchill. This is paralleled
in Harry Potter as Fudge is warned of
Voldemort’s return by Dumbledore and then ridicules Dumbledore and uses the
press to reduce Dumbledore’s influence.
The obvious correlation between Lord
Voldemort and Adolf Hitler is their common dislike for “impure” elements of society. Adolf Hitler used the Jews, Romanians, and
other ethnic groups as scapegoats in his program of eugenics. (Manchester Visions 669) Voldemort believes muggles and mudbloods
weaken wizard society, and like Hitler’s corrupt Aryanism, sees that their only
purpose is to be slaves to the master race—in Voldemort’s eyes: wizards. Additional parallels are their common and
ignoble births and childhoods, their charismatic leadership, their genius, and
their ability to master the art of terror.
No
story of the Interwar Years would be complete without Nancy Astor. Lady Astor was an interesting character in
her own right. She was born and grew up
an American but immigrated to England, married a Lord and replaced him in
Parliament. Her house at Cliveden hosted
gatherings of those loyal to the Prime Minister and opposed to
re-armament. She was staunchly
anti-soviet and liked the idea of a strong, Nazi Germany to oppose Stalin. She was an anti-Semite and her loyalty to
Baldwin blinded her to the evils of Hitler.
She loathed Winston Churchill (Manchester Visions 883). Delores
Umbridge is a perfect caricature of Lady Astor.
Umbridge is fiercely loyal to Fudge and is violent in her opposition to
Harry Potter, Dumbledore, and the anti-Voldemort movement. Umbridge is consumed by a hatred for
half-breeds and other sub-human members of Wizarding Society. When Voldermort seizes the ministry, she
quite happily goes about persecuting mudbloods.
Other
minor characters in the Harry Potter
series correspond directly with other members of the Interwar and World War II
period. Examples would include Rufus
Scrimigeour, the Minister for Magic who replaces Fudge, but is too worried
about public perception to actually fight Voldermort. He is reminiscent of Neville Chamberlain who
at first followed the policies of Baldwin and is synonymous with the idea of
appeasement, famously stating after the Munich Conference that he had brought
“peace with honour.” (Manchester Alone
358) Chamberlain later recalled
Churchill to the cabinet and even put Churchill in charge of the Admiralty,
however, he did too little too late.
Remus Lupin, the werewolf, spies on his kind and loyally reports to
Dumbledore about werewolf activities.
Ralph Wigram, a brave civil servant in the Foreign Service, tirelessly
smuggled clandestine government documents to Churchill enabling Churchill to be
apprised of Nazi Germany and give accurate numbers and statistics in his
speeches. Like Lupin, Wigram had a young
son for whom he was very worried.
Wigram’s son was mentally handicapped (Manchester Alone 135). Lupin worries
that his son will inherit the characteristics of a werewolf. Lupin, also like Wigram, is of questionable
social status (Rowling Azkaban 423)
Well before the events in Harry Potter, Grindelwald was a dark wizard who
mobilized a wizarding country and led them to war in an effort to dominate the
other Wizards and muggles (Rowling Deathly 286-295). Although Grindelwald’s rise at surface value
seems to correspond to the exact time of World War II, he seems to represent Kaiser
Wilhelm II. Like Kaiser Wilhelm,
Grindelwald loses power and is eventually exiled. Grindelwald does not support Voldemort just
as the Kaiser did not support Hitler.
In addition to the people in Harry Potter, Wizarding Society seems to
run parallels to the Interwar Years. Muggles
and Mudbloods seem to represent Jews and other “impure races” that Hitler tried
to eradicate and whom many wizards held in contempt. Death Eaters clearly correspond with the
dreaded S.S, Hitler’s most loyal and rabid followers. Like the Death Eaters, the S.S. used a skull
as their sigil. Hogwarts is the
stereotypical British public school (Rowling Half-blood 219-220). In
Britain, public schools are actually expensive private schools that cater to
the elite[5]. One of the most famous British public
schools, Eton, produces Prime Ministers and Parliamentarians almost
exclusively. Hogwarts, like a typical
English boarding school, housed a unique culture that taught their graduates to
be perfect Englishmen or wizards. Upon
the commencement of the Wizarding War, Voldermort began searching for the
Deathly Hallows, items that would give him total dominance. Voldermort is unsuccessful, and though he
finds the Elder Wand—the most powerful wand in the world—he is unable to master
it. In World War II, the Germans gained
technology that would have allowed them to build nuclear bombs, but they were
just a few months behind the Americans (Manchester Defender 305-306). This
meant that the war was over before the Germans were technologically ready to
use their new capabilities. However, in Harry Potter, Harry destroys the Elder
Wand, and accordingly, Germany never made a nuclear bomb; in fact they renounce
all nuclear technology.
Some may argue that the Harry Potter Series does not portray
World War II nor is it a perfect representation of the historical events that
led up to war. Perhaps J. K. Rowling was
just writing a child’s story; after all, she is not of the right generation to
write about World War II. In the analogy,
others may wonder—who is Harry Potter; and if the series represents the Second
World War, why are Harry, Ron, and Hermione not representative of major players
in the war?
Literature often fails to capture
the exact history of an event—that is not its purpose. Literature represents, often more accurately
than history, the emotional state created by events. Additionally, it is consistent with nostalgia
to romanticize the past and obscure the actual events to better represent the
nationalistic legends that unify the audience.
While J.K. Rowling was not a product
of the time period in question she is the product of a generation that
experienced the Interwar Years and the Second World War. Her conscious thought may not have been to
write a representation of that cataclysmic event, but there are obvious
parallels to this period that make key plot elements and define key
characters.
Regardless of her intent, if Harry
Potter is examined as a stand-alone work using the analytical technique that
“the author is dead,” the work speaks for itself and J. K. Rowling’s intent is
irrelevant. According to this method of
critique, Harry Potter is a manifestation of nostalgia for the Second World War
and the Interwar Years both because the work illustrates a story remarkably
similar to the historical events and also because the compelling story—full of
references to the past—defined the last decade in both literature and film in
the entire English Speaking World.
In historical fiction the
protagonist is often a non-historical figure who must accomplish something
critical to the development of the actual history represented. Some may argue Harry Potter and his friends
represent specific people or groups of people during this period—but even more
important is their status as representations of the types of heroes often
portrayed during the period.
Harry
Potter is an excellent character, not because he is endowed with special
powers, but because he is normal. He is
every boy and yet he is nobody. He is
not special because he is intelligent or even because he is an expert warrior,
in fact Harry Potter is none of these; Harry Potter is the classical British
Amateur Hero.
During the Victorian and Edwardian
Periods Amateur Heroes dominated literature and popular culture. The British are often thought to be obsessed
with class. In fact, the Amateur Hero is
the embodiment of British Aristocratic culture.
During the Interwar Years, British Aristocrats did not study to become
something—they already were something.
British Aristocrats didn’t need to try to prove themselves; in fact if
they proved themselves they sank to the level of the vulgar middle class. Their heroic antics were simply a combination
of luck and moral character. Harry
Potter is the perfect amateur hero and he reinforces the nostalgia for the
Interwar Years and the old national identity found in the series.
“No prophet is accepted in his own
country” (King James Bible) and so it is with literature too. As a society we are reluctant to endow mere
contemporary books with the semi-divine status of literature; and yet what
defines literature—writing that examines an issue. Does not Harry Potter
provide insight into the modern British psyche?
Does not Harry Potter explore social issues?
Harry Potter, as a work of
literature, examines the British fascination with World War II. The story is nostalgic, even though its
setting is modern; for it repeats the familiar saga of Britain before World War
II and during World War II.
The series uses fictional characters
to represent the actual political elite of the Second World War. Rowling’s characterizations are masterful and
show a real understanding, and a real longing, for that era. The Wizarding Society is almost
stereotypically British and the Wizard government, culture, and institutions
are reminiscent of Britain during the Interwar Years.
Whether or not Rowling’s Harry Potter is supposed to represent
World War II and the years leading up to it is immaterial. Nostalgia comes out in many different ways
and the allusions made to World War II and the Interwar Years, if made
nostalgically, would only more powerfully portray the poignancy of World War II
and the Interwar Years in British culture. The Harry
Potter Series is literature as relevant as any of the great British
literary gems because it illustrates a clear social issue: the British
nostalgia for the Interwar Years and World War II.
Works Cited
"Embassy-Mates; Diplomacy." The Economist Sep 29 2012: 42. ProQuest. 12 Nov. 2013 .
The Gathering
Storm. Dir. Richard Loncraine.
Perf. Albert Finney, Vanessa Redgrave, Jim Broadbent. BBC, 2002. DVD.
King James Translation of the
Bible. The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: Salt Lake City, Utah. 1979. Print.
Lay, Paul. "From the
Editor." History Today 60.12 (2010): 2-. Print.
Manchester, William. Winston Spencer Churchill The Last Lion:
Alone (1932-1940). Dell Publishing: New York, New York. 1988. Print
---
. Winston Spencer Churchill The Last
Lion: Visions of Glory (1874-1932). Little, Brown and Co.: New York, New
York. 1983. Print
Manchester, William and Paul Reid. Winston Spencer Churchill The Last Lion:
Defender of the Realm (1940-1965). Little, Brown and Co.: New York, New
York. 2012. Print
Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter and the
Sorcerer’s Stone. Scholastic Press: USA. 1998. Print
---. Harry Potter and the Chamber of
Secrets. Scholastic Press: USA. 1999 Print
---. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of
Azkaban. Scholastic Press: USA. 1999. Print
---. Harry Potter and the Goblet of
Fire. Scholastic Press: USA. 2000. Print
---. Harry Potter and the Order of
the Phoenix. Scholastic Press: USA. 2003. Print
---. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood
Prince. Scholastic Press: USA. 2005. Print
---. Harry Potter and the Deathly
Hallows. Scholastic Press: USA. 2007. Print
Smyth,
Chris. 1936 and all that: Hitler, abdication -- and Perry [Edition 2]. The
Times [London (UK)] 08 July 2013: 8. Web. 11/14/2013.
Sullivan, Erin. Nostalgia. The Lancet. Volume 376 Issue 9741. 21–27
August 2010. Page 585. Web. 12
November 2013.
Trimm,
R. “The Incredible Shrinking Empire.” Novel:
A Forum on Fiction. 2006. Web. 12 November 2013.
West,
Richard. "Soul - Searching as Bradford is Forced to Rethink Cultural
Divide." The TimesApril
28 1990. Print.
[1] This
was unpopular and viewed by many Americans as monarchic paraphernalia.
[2] In
fact some Canadians tend to resent that their passports tell them that if a
Canadian Embassy or Consulate is not present that they must report to the
nearest British Embassy.
[3] This is in fact,
an attitude repeated in England towards the concept of Scottish Independence.
[4] from 1919-1939
[5]
Examples include some of the world’s most prestigious schools like Oxford,
Cambridge, Harrow, and Eton
No comments:
Post a Comment